Wild Child
by Briar Elwood
Summary: Companion to The Suffocating Death. Uni!Sherlock, before he turns into the cold man we know. He was always brilliant, always condescending, but his heart was still somewhat intact. Sherlock/OC. Mentions child abuse and deals a lot with suicide.
1. Chapter 1

Sherlock met her on his first day at uni. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the whole ordeal, but he was also thrilled. He had gotten into one of the top schools in Britain, after all, it couldn't be too terrible. But he'd also been going to what was supposedly one of the top secondary schools and that had been incredibly tedious. The only reason he'd lasted was by convincing a couple of the more intelligent teachers to let him do a lot of work study. It kept him deeply segregated from the rest of the students, but that was the way he liked it.

To his excitement, he had his chemistry class the first day. He had managed to get into one of the upper-division sections so even if the professor was utterly boring and dull, Sherlock could probably very easily get his hands on some more interesting equipment to entertain himself.

Sadly, it turned out that the first day was going to consist of going over the syllabus and what was expected for the semester. Sherlock sat in his chair, grumbling under his breath for the vast majority of the hour as the professor tried to make the same things they'd be hearing in every class sound unique and interesting. There must have been some higher power who took a liking to Sherlock that day, however, for the professor finished going over the syllabus early and filled the rest of the hour up by asking what were supposed to be hard, yet basic, questions.

Sherlock amused himself by answering one of these questions with a detailed explanation. Every other student turned to see who this know-it-all was, surprised to find a kid several years younger than themselves. Sherlock couldn't help the rush of pride that swelled up inside of him when he realized everyone was actually impressed and kept going with his explanation. He got a little ahead of himself, however, and made a mistake.

He knew it as soon as it was out of his mouth. He cursed himself mentally, but his mouth kept talking. He thought maybe he saw a couple of frowns of confusion, but they were quickly shaken off, the students thinking maybe they'd heard him wrong. A moment passed and slowly, a hand rose into the air. Sherlock growled, eyes snapping to the offender.

"What?" he barked. The girl smiled almost warily at him, arm falling down to her desk.

"Sorry, just... you said something that wasn't right a moment ago."

Sherlock wanted to be angry at her, for noticing and for pointing it out. He'd almost gotten away with it, he'd been so close... But he couldn't. Instead, he found himself staring as she explained, rather succinctly, how he had been wrong and what was actually correct. She was right, of course, which continued to floor him. When she finished talking, she held his gaze as if waiting for him to reply, but he found he couldn't. All he could do was stare.

Luckily the professor dismissed the class at that point and Sherlock was able to shake himself out of it without gaining too much attention. The girl grinned at him as if she knew what was going through his head, before leaning down, grabbing her bag, and walking out the door. Sherlock reached for his bag as well, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

It was at that point that he decided he needed to learn more about her.

_A/N: GAH. I need to stop coming up with more multi-chapter stuff! I am working on Damage and The Pixie, I promise! But I wrote a oneshot yesterday (The Suffocating Death) and I fell in love with a couple of the characters. And I couldn't let them go._

_So this shouldn't be too long, not a full-blown story. I just want to play with Addy and Dakota more. I think what I'm going to do is have this one be for Dakota and do a different one for Addy. Or maybe not. Maybe both will be in here. I don't know. We'll see._

_Either way, you probably should read The Suffocating Death first. ALSO. Don't fret about the whole Sherlock/OC thing. I'm a big Johnlock fan. Big. But Dakota wouldn't let me leave her forgotten. :)_

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Sherlock had a basic English composition class. He got to the lecture hall early and sat down, pulling out a notebook and his chemistry textbook to start getting ahead on the homework. He was blissfully immersed in the work when his classmates started filing in. It was because of this that he didn't notice right away when the girl from chemistry sat right next to him. After a moment he realized that she was staring at him with a rather amused smile, and he looked up to meet her stare confusedly.

"It's Holmes, right?" she asked as soon as their eyes met.

"Sherlock. Yes."

"I'm Dakota Stark."

"Mmm." He turned back to the chemistry book despite his brain screaming at him to continue the conversation. He did want to learn more about her, after all! What better way to do it than to talk to her? Or was he really such a coward that he wanted to... to what? Stalk her? The words in the textbook blurred as his thoughts started to whirl. What the hell was he doing?

"So," Dakota said slowly. She hadn't stopped staring at him. "What are you studying?"

"I don't know yet," Sherlock replied in a mumble, eyes still fixed on the textbook unseeingly. "It's just my first semester."

She looked surprised. "Really? I mean, you look young, but yesterday in chemistry..."

Sherlock found he really had no idea how to reply to that. So he stayed silent. _Why was this chemistry suddenly making no sense?_

He looked up suddenly, giving up on the chemistry, and looked around the lecture hall at all the students filing in. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Dakota _still_ hadn't stopped staring at him. What the hell?

"How about you?" he asked suddenly, surprising himself with the question. Dakota grinned.

"What am I studying?" she clarified. "Is it pathetic that it's my fourth year and I still don't know?"

Sherlock frowned. "A little."

Dakota rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be nice. It's _really_ pathetic."

Sherlock found himself thinking that she was anything but pathetic. No, she was intriguing and wonderful and beautiful and... _Beautiful_? What? No! No, she wasn't. She was entirely ordinary. Her hair was a rather bland shade of dark blonde, almost brown, her eyes were a perfectly dull grey, her smile boring. Boring. _Boring_, dammit.

"What are you doing Friday night?"

Sherlock blinked, pulled out of his thoughts, to see she was still-still-watching him with that small, amused,_ boring_ smile.

"Uh. I don't know. Homework?"

Her smile widened, showing her teeth. Sherlock let out a mental string of curses. There was no way he could convince himself that smile was boring now. That was_ Addy's_ smile.

"There's a little ice cream shop downtown. Wanna go? I'll pay."

"Like... a date?" Sherlock asked slowly. He'd never been on a date before...

"Yeah. Whaddya say?"

Sherlock stared at Dakota, her grin-_Addy's grin_-doing funny things to his insides. He didn't understand what was going on, he realized. He had no idea what was happening. ...This merited investigation.

"...Sure," he replied finally. Dakota looked thrilled.

"Awesome. Where do you live? I'll pick you up around eight."

_A/N: If you haven't read The Suffocating Death yet, then you won't know that Addy is Adelaide Holmes: Sherlock and Mycroft's older sister who committed suicide when Sherlock was four. So. Yes. :)_

_I love reviewers and I live for constructive criticism!_


	3. Chapter 3

The date went well. It went more than well, really. Dakota was very open, answering all of Sherlock's prying, curious questions. She came from a large, poor family living far out in the country. She was at school on scholarship, which was thanks to her being bloody brilliant. Though, unlike Sherlock, she was extremely humble about it to the point of not quite realizing just how brilliant she was. This was because, in the midst of all her siblings, her family never recognized that they had a genius in their company.

As well as being just a straight out genius, Dakota also liked to write. She'd never taken any creative writing classes, she just enjoyed writing. She had a particular thing with science fiction and loved the works of Isaac Asimov and the Star Wars trilogy. She had taken piano lessons but was adamant that she couldn't play very well due to her never practicing. She loved to cook and said she would probably cook gourmet meals for herself and all her friends regularly if she only had the money. Her favorite book was Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". Her favorite ice cream was dulce de leche (which they didn't have at the shop they went to so she got cookie dough instead). She had had a dog once when she was five, but it disappeared one day. But she liked cats better anyway so she hadn't really cared too much.

It turned out that by "pick you up", Dakota hadn't meant anything about having a car. She didn't have enough money for that, she had told Sherlock with a laugh. Instead, she had walked over to Sherlock's dormitory building and they walked over to the ice cream shop together. After finishing their ice cream, they decided without really saying anything about it, to take a walk around the city. Around three in the morning they ended up at Sherlock's dorm.

"This was fun, thanks," Dakota told him with a grin. Sherlock nodded, his mind still working furiously as he was putting all the information he'd learned in the past hours together. Suddenly she bounced slightly on her feet, bobbing up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you in class on Monday," she called as she skipped away.

Sherlock stood frozen where he was, all the thoughts in his head coming to a screeching halt. A date he could pass off as just wanting to get to know her; this strange woman who was so much like his sister. But a kiss? Even just a kiss on the cheek... However much he wanted to, he couldn't ignore the bizarre feeling in his stomach.

Dinner, he decided. He was going to take her out to dinner.

_A/N: The next couple of updates will be a lot quicker as I got, like, three chapters for this story written in one day. :)_

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	4. Chapter 4

"Dah... Dakota..." Sherlock panted into Dakota's hair. Her lips left his skin, fingers halting their work on his belt buckle, and she raised her head, blinking at him with lust-filled eyes. Sherlock swallowed hard, trying to restart his brain. They'd been a couple for three weeks and five days now. (Not that he was counting... Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he was counting. This whole thing was so new and he loved it so much and he was just waiting, waiting for her to disappear.)

They had been out on a walk. Sherlock had given her the usual kiss goodnight, but then she had pulled him in for more. Now he was flat on her bed, not entirely sure how they had moved from the doorstep to her bedroom. His brain had shorted out pretty quickly and he'd let himself be dragged. Her fingers fumbling on his belt had done a pretty good job of jerking his mind back into reality, however.

"What?" she asked softly, her voice low and rough. Sherlock squirmed slightly underneath her, slowly unlocking his fingers from where they were curled into the sheet on her bed.

"I'm a virgin," he muttered quickly, not meeting her gaze. She chuckled, lowering her face to nuzzle their noses together.

"I know that, silly," she purred. Sherlock blinked, stunned. How did she...? But as soon as the question formed, he knew the answer. Dakota was brilliant and observant, she'd figured it out easily. Deduced it, if you will. She kissed him, slow, sweet and tender.

"I love you," she murmured, her breath hot on his lips.

"I... I love you too..."

_A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	5. Chapter 5

Having a girlfriend who had her own room was a wonderful thing, Sherlock soon realized. The whole "sock on doorknob" thing was way too public for his comfort. Of course, the fact that he rarely slept in his own bed was pretty damn obvious as well. He secretly enjoyed the fact that people knew he, Sherlock Holmes, was being shagged by a gorgeous woman three years his senior, really.

Spending all of his time with Dakota also come with more of a social life than Sherlock was used to as well. She wasn't a loner like Sherlock so he suddenly found himself "hanging out" with groups of Dakota's friends. They even went out on a couple double dates. The whole thing was, frankly, bizarre. Sherlock would do his best to be personable, but he was much more at ease when it was just him and Dakota.

After his first semester, Sherlock actually moved in with Dakota. It was the logical move since he spent all of his time there anyway. Despite her protests, this meant he paid the rent and for groceries since she was far more strapped for money than he. It helped him feel a bit better about the relationship, actually, since he still was just waiting for her to get bored and leave half of the time.

Helping out financially also helped Dakota out more than Sherlock recognized at first. As it was supposed to be her last semester and she still had no idea what she was doing, she was on edge and incredibly stressed out already. Sherlock found just how stressed she was early one morning.

Sherlock woke up with their bed strangely empty. Groggy and disoriented from sleep, he dragged himself out of bed, quietly calling her name. The sounds of the shower reached his notice and he tiptoed to the bathroom, confused. Why was Dakota taking a shower so early in the morning? When he opened the door, he could see Dakota through the glass of the shower door. She was curled in a ball on the floor, hair wet and stringy around her face, her eyes wide, unseeing and red.

Sherlock shot to her side, turning off the long-cold water and grabbing a towel. He wrapped it around her shoulders which were shaking violently now, cupping her face with one hand.

"Dakota," he murmured worriedly. How long had she been here? She was going to end up sick!

"I don't know what I'm doing," she mumbled distractedly. "I don't know what I'm doing..."

It all clicked at that moment and he bit his lip, tightening his grip on her shoulder.

"Let's get you into some warm clothes," he whispered gently. "You'll not be going to class today."

_A/N: I have no idea how old the whole "doorsock" thing is, so I don't know if it was around when Sherlock would've been at uni._

_I also realize that a lot of people graduate without knowing what they're going to do after graduation but Dakota doesn't even know what she's focusing on in school at this point. Which I can only imagine would be terrifying._

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	6. Chapter 6

Dakota didn't graduate that semester much to her distress. It took a lot of convincing, but Sherlock assured her that he would take care of her financially and to stop worrying about it. She could take her time. Sherlock was starting to finally get comfortable with the idea that she wasn't leaving. It seemed she needed him just as much as he needed her.

Neither of them went home for the summer months. Instead, they found a new flat, a nice and larger one, and moved in. Sherlock had opted to take some summer courses and Dakota found, despite Sherlock telling her repeatedly she had absolutely no need to, a summer job at the ice cream shop where they had gone to for their first date. All of this meant they mainly got to see each other as they were going to bed, exhausted. They definitely didn't have time to really talk about what was going on in their daily lives. Which was why Sherlock was caught off guard when Dakota came home early one day, eyes red and puffy from crying.

After making her eat something, the two of them sat down on their couch and Dakota explained. Her father had visited her at work, apparently knowing he wouldn't be able to contact her at home. Being in public seemed to have an advantage for both of them: Dakota couldn't run from him, but he also couldn't hurt her. Sherlock blinked stupidly at that revelation. Abusive father? It seemed he and Dakota had more in common than he'd thought. Not that he'd ever told Dakota that.

Her father had come into town to tell her some grave news. Her youngest brother had been playing up in the hayloft and had taken a fall, breaking his neck. He had died almost instantly.

"I know you're not really supposed to have favorites," Dakota mumbled, tears having long since run out, "but Ian's my favorite. Was my favorite. He's just always so happy. And he has so much energy. Had." She gritted her teeth. "Had so much energy." She buried her head into Sherlock's chest. "He's only ten. Was."

Sherlock didn't know what to say to any of that, really. So he stayed silent, opting to simply tighten his arms around her, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

_A/N: I love reviewers and I live for constructive criticism!_


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the summer went by without much consequence. That was, until a few days before the new term when there was a knock at their apartment door. Summer terms were over by then and Dakota had taken a few days off to get ready for classes so both Sherlock and Dakota were home that day. Sherlock went to answer the door and immediately tried to shut it again. Mycroft, however, anticipated it and threw his foot in the way. Sherlock grinned at the grunt of pain before opening the door again with a scowl.

"What are you doing here?" he growled quietly enough so Dakota wouldn't hear. Mycroft smiled, amused.

"I was in town on business and thought I'd stop by and say hello to my little brother."

"Hello!" Sherlock greeted brightly. "Now goodbye!" He tried to shut the door again, but Mycroft had moved forward, making it impossible.

"I also wanted to meet this girlfriend of yours that Mummy keeps telling me about."

Of course that was the exact moment Dakota decided to get curious and come up to Sherlock's side to see who their visitor was. Mycroft's eyes brightened at the sight of her and he held out a hand.

"You must be Dakota," he said pleasantly, making Sherlock scowl ferociously. "I'm Mycroft Holmes."

Dakota's eyes widened to the size of saucers and Sherlock groaned loudly, stepping away to let them talk.

"Are you..." She looked to Sherlock questioningly but he was in no mood to answer.

"Sherlock's older brother," Mycroft supplied. Dakota was fighting back a chuckle.

"He's never mentioned he had a brother."

"Yes, well, that's not exactly surprising," Mycroft agreed good-naturedly. "Do you two have plans tonight? I'd love to take you both out for a nice dinner."

Sherlock didn't even have time to decline. Dakota was already professing how much they would love that.  
>Dinner was... fine, really. Sherlock spent most of the time silent stabbing at his food, but Dakota seemed to have a fantastic time getting to know Mycroft and listening to all his stories of Sherlock as a kid. At one point during the night, Dakota excused herself to go to the bathroom, leaving Mycroft and Sherlock in tense silence for a few seconds.<p>

"So."

Sherlock looked up, an eyebrow raised. Mycroft had leaned forward slightly, eyes fixed steadily on Sherlock. "'So' what?"

"Shall Mummy and I be expecting a new addition to the family sometime soon?"

Sherlock blinked dumbly, not understanding Mycroft's question at all. "What?"

Mycroft sighed, rolling his eyes. "Are you two going to get married or not, Sherlock?"

Sherlock stared. "_What?_" he hissed. Mycroft shrugged.

"Well, you've never taken to anyone as much as Dakota. I can tell you're completely mad about her. And she is about you as well. You've been together for almost a year now. Are you going to ask her to marry you or not?"

"I haven't... I don't... She..." Sherlock spluttered, completely baffled. "I haven't even _thought_ about that, Mycroft!"

Mycroft nodded curtly, taking a bit of his cheesecake. "Think about it, then. Mummy would love to have a daughter again. And she _is_ quite a bit like Addy."

Sherlock went rigid. He was on the edge of letting out some biting retort right as Dakota returned. Mycroft shifted his gaze to her with a broad smile, leaving Sherlock to recollect himself silently.

_A/N: Well, I mean, obviously I had to bring Mycroft in. The Holmes brothers are just too fantastic. :)_

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	8. Chapter 8

Sherlock spent the next month cursing Mycroft's name. Ever since his older brother brought up the idea of Sherlock proposing to Dakota, Sherlock couldn't seem to stop thinking about it. Was that what Dakota was expecting? Did she want to get married? Would she want to have children? And what about her family? If they got married, there would be no way Sherlock could avoid meeting her family. And they'd probably have to be there on the wedding day, which Sherlock knew Dakota would not be happy about. Maybe they could elope? Mummy would never forgive him, though. And did Sherlock really even want to get married in the first place? Did he want to go through that whole tedious ceremony and all the bother that went along with a wedding? And if Dakota wanted kids... Could Sherlock really be a father?

Many nights Sherlock wished there was something that could stop his brain from hurtling along so haphazardly. Well, okay, he knew there were substances out there that would help, but he wasn't about to go into that. He could only imagine what Dakota's reaction would be and he didn't want to even go there.

He kept finding himself watching Dakota, searching for any clues of whether or not she wanted to get married. He tried skirting around the topic, seeing if he could drag any hints out of her but to no avail.

And then one day he found himself in a jeweler's shop looking through the glass at engagement rings. The moment he realized what he was doing, he panicked, turning to bolt out the door. But then one of the rings caught his eye. He stopped, moving to give it a closer look. One of the employees noticed and walked up.

"Would you like me to pull something out for you, sir?"

Sherlock pointed at the ring. "I'd like to purchase that ring, actually," he said quietly. He gave the employee Dakota's ring size (which he knew from simple observation) and handed her his credit card. He walked home in a daze, fingering the small black box in his coat pocket the entire journey.

_A/N: You can see the ring here: http :/ media-cache1 .pinterest .com/ upload/ 207587864043808189_ nOBS4Otg .jpg (Just take out the spaces.)_

_Next chapter is the last. I would, therefore, like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, alerted, etc. this story. You all are brilliant and I'm so glad I was able to entertain you for a brief while._

_I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!_


	9. Chapter 9

Even after purchasing the ring it took Sherlock a few weeks to build up the courage and to figure out how, exactly, to propose. He kept the ring with him at all times, absentmindedly fiddling with it constantly. He was completely immersed in his own mind for three full weeks, so much so he didn't seeing the warning signs.

That semester he had an evening class. He would come home after the class and Dakota would be on the couch, reading a book to wind down after work. They'd eat dinner together and then study for a bit before heading to bed. It was a nice routine, but Dakota was spiraling downwards quickly from the stress of work, school, and family issues back home. Sherlock would beat himself up over not noticing for years, but he was so worked up over his plans to propose.

It was a Thursday. Sherlock had finally figured out how he was going to propose. He'd take her out for nice dinner, followed by a walk by the river. It was simple. It was not entirely original. But he knew Dakota would appreciate it. She wouldn't want anything fancy or over dramatic. He made reservations before going to the evening class for the next night.

He didn't really pay much attention to the lecture that night. Now that he had a plan the nerves had suddenly switched to excitement. He was going to get married, he thought with a grin. Sherlock and Dakota Holmes. All of his previous worries about the idea didn't really seem to matter anymore. They'd get through whatever they needed to. What mattered was that they were going to get married.

He practically skipped on his way home. He opened the door gleefully, ready to swoop to the couch and kiss Dakota happily on the lips.

But she wasn't there. He frowned slightly, the excitement still bubbling in his stomach despite her absence.

"Dakota?" he called cheerily, setting his book bag down and walking further into the apartment. The apartment was strangely silent. The excitement started to simmer down into worry.

"Dakota?" he called again, smile slipping. He checked the kitchen. No sign of her. The bedroom was also empty. Then he checked the bathroom and the excitement went swooping out from his chest into a coiled, sick feeling panic.

The bathtub was full to the brim with water and blood. Next to the sink were a couple of drug bottles. Dakota's legs were hanging out of the end of the tub, wet jeans clinging to skin.

Muttering incoherently in his panic, Sherlock rushed to the tub and dragged Dakota out, collapsing to the floor with her in his arms. He quickly took in her too pale skin and the deep cuts on her wrists, heart jumping to his throat and tears springing to his eyes. He started when she coughed quietly, eyes fluttering open.

"Dakota," he said brokenly as her eyes sought him out. Her mouth twisted weakly into a sardonic smile. She opened her mouth ever so slightly as if to say something, but Sherlock was shaking his head frantically.

"Nononononononono, Dakota, no, I'm so sorry, I love you, I'm sorry..."

Her eyes slipped shut slowly and her body shuddered in his eyes before growing too still. Sherlock choked back a sob and cradled her close, the ring box digging into his leg from the weight of her warm body.

_A/N: Thank you again for reading. You (yes, you) are beautiful and brilliant. xoxo_

_I love reviewers and I live for constructive criticism!_


End file.
